Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia University’

SHEPHERDSTOWN – Dr. Paul Ziemkiewicz doesn’t pretend to predict the future, even though the majority of his efforts overseeing West Virginia University’s Water Research Institute projects are proactive and aimed at looking ahead to prevent potential, water-related environmental problems.

Even so, neither Ziemkiewicz nor his staff could have known in advance just how relevant this year’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Conference would be – especially after the Jan. 9 chemical leak into the Elk River from a corroded storage tank at Freedom Industries that left approximately 300,000 water customers in a nine county-region (including people in Charleston) without safe tap water for weeks, because it occurred upstream from the state’s largest water treatment facility.

At that time, a citizen reported the problem, which turned out to be the chemical MCHM that’s typically used in coal preparation plants.

Article Photos

Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley and state Senate majority leader, gives the keynote address at the Panel Discussion for Protecting Water Infrastructure from Energy-Related Incidents on Thursday at the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Conference at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown. Other panelists, from left, include Walt Ivy, director, environmental engineering division, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources; John Kennedy, director, office of ecology and infrastructure, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; and John Sheehan, director of communications, Adirondack Council. — Ron Agnir

Perhaps not too surprisingly, the regional conference – which was held Wednesday and Thursday at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center – attracted about 130 participants from a variety of disciplines, including academia, government, research organizations and private business.

In addition to West Virginia, several other states were represented by participants and speakers, including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, as well as Washington, D.C.

Its theme, “The Future of Mid-Atlantic Infrastructure: Challenges and Solutions,” may have been part of the draw, since the two-day event included sessions on tools for managing stormwater, the water and energy development conundrum and planning for future water supplies, as well as planning and response to climate change and flooding.

“What we hope to do here is highlight how to protect our source waters which are now under threat from a number of sources that can impact the quality of public water supplies – whether they are contaminated for a short period, or perhaps long-term. This is an especially good time for this discussion, since the Elk River incident has focused so much concern on this need,” Ziemkiewicz said.

One of the most popular topics dealt with drinking water safety -diverse discussions ranging from environmental concerns to political pressures, as speakers discussed what has been accomplished and what’s still needed.

Thursday’s keynote speaker, Senate Majority Leader John Unger, D-Berkeley, whom Ziemkiewicz praised as having been “extraordinarily engaged” in water issues even before the spill, said he’s glad others are also finally taking an interest in this issue.

A problem of this nature and magnitude could still take place anywhere in the United States, said Unger, adding, “We won’t be judged by the fact this happened in West Virginia, but West Virginia will be judged by what we do about it.”

Unger, who heads the Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources, is credited as the driving force and lead sponsor for Senate Bill 373, a multi-faceted piece of legislation that was signed into law by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. It was unanimously passed by legislators and requires the state Department of Environmental Protection to inventory and inspect above-ground storage tanks.

This type of regulatory action will be even more important as time passes, especially since so many places lack the abundance of water resources found in West Virginia, Unger said.

Already anticipating calls for revisiting the new law when the legislature meets again in January, Unger said it is not perfect and may need some tweaking.

But it represents a good start, one that he hopes will continue to bring people together rather than being divided by different interests or stakeholders.

Toward that end, Unger proposed holding a conference for next year to encourage communication among three specific interests – energy, environmental and agriculture.

“This is important because they are usually fighting over the same resource, fresh water, but it is one they all need to survive,” he said.

Panel members who took the floor after Unger discussed other types of threats to water supplies, including an incident earlier this year that sent 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of coal ash pond water into the Dan River from the Duke Energy Dan River Steam Plant site near Eden, North Carolina.

A representative of the Adirondack Environmental Council discussed the catastrophic problems – to both public health and water supplies – that can come from the derailment of railroad cars carrying oil. That’s an increasingly important consideration because of the increased rail shipments of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota in older cars, said communications director John Sheehan.

– See more at: http://www.weirtondailytimes.com/page/content.detail/id/624191/-Water-infrastructure–meeting-focus.html?nav=5006#sthash.65Foq9GF.dpuf

The conference will take place on Sept. 24 and 25 at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown and will feature over 50 speakers from throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. Topics will focus on the challenges and solutions facing the future of the Mid-Atlantic region’s water infrastructure.

“Water infrastructure is a vitally important issue moving into the future,” said Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute. “January’s chemical spill on the Elk River in West Virginia highlighted the need to seriously study the Nation’s water infrastructure to find better ways to protect source water and to improve the resiliency of the entire water system.”

The conference program will feature plenary sessions, three tracks of concurrent break-out sessions and several guest speakers including:

For more information about the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Regional Water Conference, including a complete list of speakers and to register, visit www.midatlanticwc.org.

The West Virginia Water Research Institute is a program of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at West Virginia University. In existence since 1967, the West Virginia Water Research Institute serves as a statewide vehicle for performing research related to water issues. It is the premier water research center in West Virginia and, within selected fields, an international leader.

CHARLESTON — “The Law Works,” a weekly television show on West Virginia PBS that discusses legal issues affecting the lives of West Virginians, will conduct a special one-hour live call-in show Thursday, Feb. 13, focused on the Jan. 9 chemical spill into the Elk River that affected residents in nine West Virginia counties.

Scheduled guests for the show include: Alan Ducketman, M.D., professor in occupational and environmental health sciences at West Virginia University; Paul F. Ziemkiewicz, Ph.D., director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute; and Patrick C. McGinley, professor at the West Virginia University College of Law.

“I’m looking forward to a lively discussion,” program host Dan Ringer said in a press release. “Water safety is something we all take for granted, and this incident has shown just how fragile our water resources are. I’m hoping this episode of ‘The Law Works’ will help people better understand their rights and expectations when it comes to managing natural resources we all depend on.”

Calls will be taken from 8 p.m. the day of the show until a few minutes before 9 p.m.

“The Law Works” regularly airs at 8:30 p.m. each Thursday on WV PBS and Fridays at 11 a.m. on WV PBS 2, where available.

More information about this week’s and recent topics from the program is available at The Law Works website, http://wvpublic.org/programs/law-works, including YouTube postings of recent programs.

UPDATE – Below is “The Law Works” special call-in program that aired on February 13, 2014.